It has come to the attention of the publishers that an erroneous statement has been included in the promotional text for the recently published Elsevier book, Atom Probe Tomography: Put Theory Into Practice by Williams Lefebvre, Francois Vurpillot, Xavier Sauvage. The error has appeared on the publisher’s own website, on third-party websites that received the same promotional text from the publisher, and on the back cover of the book. Steps are now being taken to correct this error.
The text in question states that the University of Rouen was ‘the institution which developed the process of atom probe tomography’. The publishers wish to retract and correct this erroneous statement, and confirm that:
- The design of the first position-sensitive atom probe came from the research group based at Oxford University (A. Cerezo and G.D.W. Smith).
- The key patent on how to make a working 3-D atom probe was filed by A. Cerezo and G.D.W. Smith in 1985.
- The first fourteen published papers on this topic, covering the period 1988–1992, were all from the Oxford group, with the first paper from the Rouen team appearing in 1993.
The publishers offer an unreserved apology to Alfred Cerezo and George Smith for the misleading information included in the promotional text about the new book.
The publishers also wish to make it clear that the error was entirely their fault. The error appears in the promotional text that was prepared by the publishers, but the book itself correctly attributes the early discoveries and developments to the Oxford group. Therefore, the publishers also offer an apology to the editors of the book, Williams Lefebvre, Francois Vurpillot, Xavier Sauvage.